“I, too, would like to thank our leader,” said Fudge, when commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) on Capitol Hill.

“And I say she is our leader—not just the leader of the Democratic caucus—but she is the leader of this Congress,” she said.

The new 113th Congress was sworn in on Jan. 3. The House of Representatives is comprised of 232 Republicans and 200 Democrats, and three vacancies. The Speaker of the House is Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is now in his second congressional terms as Speaker. (The Senate is comprised of 53 Democrats and 2 Independents that caucus with them and 45 Republicans.)

In the House, the Democrats are in the minority (200 seats) and Rep. Pelosi is the Minority Leader in the House.

Rep. Fudge joined Pelosi and other Democrats to celebrate the FMLA, which was enacted on Feb. 5, 1993. The law, signed by President Bill Clinton, allows certain employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for family or medical reasons.

Pelosi and the Democrats said more work must be done to expand the law, calling paid leave a “right.”

“We also must understand that we’ve got to find a way to extend paid family leave to all workers so they can have the ability to exercise this right that changes the outcomes for these children, changes the outcome for families, and changes the outcome for the workplace,” Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) said.